Sunday, February 14, 2010

Real 2K Insider [All-Star Edition]

Disclaimer for 2K Sports and the 2K Insider
Please cut the hypocriscy and stealing my ratings. I dropped Rip Hamilton and Ben Gordon to 75 overall in my last update, while also raising the laughably underrated Andrei Kirilenko to 75 overall. I checked 2K's roster this week, and lo and behold, all three of those players are 75 overall now. Gordon and Hamilton were the top two players I had yet to edit, and 2K didn't touch either until I did. Kirilenko was 69 overall and a player I knew was underrated but just never got around to him. There was nothing outstanding about his recent play, so what would be their motivation for coming to their senses now?

I first noticed they were doing this when they edited Tayshaun Prince (down to 76 overall) the week after I did - during a week in which Tayshaun was injured and did not play. What was their motivation for editing him? Either 2K can read my mind, or they're bigger fans of me than they'd like to admit.

HIGHLIGHTS
76.7% of all players in the NBA (324/422) have been edited!
All edited players updated monthly!
No missing players!
Accurate player positions, player roles, and rotations for all teams!
Accurate contracts for all edited players!
Updated shooting tendencies and accessories!
Updated coach profiles for all teams!
Revised speed and quickness ratings for bigmen!
Revised shoot off dribble and shoot in traffic for all players!

Coach profiles were edited for all teams in all but five categories: Help Defense, Run Plays, Double Teams, Zone Usage, Bench Depth

Please note that despite the title of the roster, I did not create all-star teams (via Create Team) because I feel that it's tacky (the game won't count , and it's easy enough to do it yourself if you so please. Here's an idea for 2K - make the all-star teams modifiable in future editions so we don't need DLC to get the right squad.

The Wizards traded Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, and DeShawn Stevenson to the Mavericks for Josh Howard, Drew Gooden, Quinton Ross, and James Singleton. This is the first major trade of the season, and first of the trade deadline deals to be made (the deadline is this Wednesday, so you can expect another roster from me on Thursday).

The Mavericks come out of this trade like bandits. Caron Butler is a better player than Josh Howard, Brendan Haywood is a better player than Drew Gooden, and DeShawn Stevenson is a better player than Quinton Ross (while James Singleton doesn't really have a purpose on a team with Shawn Marion). Butler will start at SG and return Jason Terry to his 6th man role, while Haywood will likely start over Dampier (if Dampier isn't traded himself, as rumored). Stevenson probably won't see anymore time than Ross/Singleton did given the backcourt depth, but will be valuable if the Mavericks have to face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers in the playoffs at some point.

As for the Wizards, they seem to be in full salary dumping mode. Given that Howard is not as good as Butler, a year older, and even making more money (an extra million), it should be clear the Wizards have no intention of excercising Howard's 2011 option, and will let him become a free agent. The Wizards made this deal to save 14 million (10 million for Butler, 4 million for Stevenson) off next season's books. Given the state of the team and the economy, that's not a bad idea. Andray Blatche will start at center with Haywood gone, and it's increasingly likely veterans Antawn Jamisonand Mike Miller will also be traded before the deadline.

The Rockets signed Garrett Temple to a ten day contract, replacing his D-League teammate Will Conroy on the roster. The Rockets have really done a great job with the D-League team they own and operate, the Rio Grande Vipers, and have called up multiple players this season. Hopefully other teams follow suit and we one day have minor league affiliates for all the NBA teams (I think a fair guess would be 20 years down the road).

The Bulls signed Chris Richard to a ten day contract to help ease the burden created by Joakim Noah's injury. Richard played with the team in preseason, and will likely stick with the team until Noah gets healthy.

Marquis Daniels returned to the Celtics after missing two months, while Darrell Arthur and Reggie Evans made their season debuts for the Grizzlies and Raptors respectively. Tyson Chandler returned and is coming off the bench in Charlotte.

The all-star break is a time of rest and recovery, and it's tough to get hurt when there are no scheduled games, so this list is happily shorter than usual.

As stated prior, Caron Butler will start at SG for Dallas and may be joined by Brendan Haywood. Andray Blatche will start at center in Washington, while Josh Howard takes Butler's SF spot in Washington.

Chris Duhon returned to the Knick starting lineup after a two game experiment by Mike D'Antoni. My misery continues.

Tyson Chandler is back but coming off the bench. Based on how well Nazr Mohammed has played (and how poorly Chandler has this season) they should keep the alignment as it is. Chandler's energy is probably more valuable off the bench when he doesn't have to worry about foul trouble anyway.

Stephen Jackson - Over his last 10 games Jax has been averaging 24.4 ppg on an uncharacteristic .473 shooting (including .420 from beyond the arc). His addition has turned the Bobcats into a playoff team.

Andrei Kirilenko - AK47 has been playing like the all-star he used to be ever since returning to the starting lineup. Over his last 10 games, he is averaging 17.6 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.1 apg, 2.3 spg, 1.8 bpg, and shooting a staggering .667 from the field. Wow.

Darren Collison - In 15 games as a starter this season, Collison is averaging 16.9 ppg and 7.9 apg. Collison is only due to make 4.3 million over the next 3 seasons, which pales in comparison to the 50 million Chris Paul will pull in. The emergence of Collison could give the small market New Orleans Hornets the flexibility needed to trade Chris Paul down the line without regretting it too much.

Stephen Curry - Curry posted a huge triple double (36-10-13) in his last game, and is averaging 20.7 ppg and 6.3 rpg over his last 10 games.

Ray Allen - Ray has not been able to get it going this season. It's one thing when you're in a slump to begin the year, but when you're 50 games in and still shooting poorly, it ain't no slump. Ray is averaging 15.6 over his last 10, and shot only .397 from the field and .288 from behind the arc. He could be wearing another team's uniform in a few days, which was almost unthinkable 9 months ago.

DeJuan Blair - Anyone who saw the Rookie/Sophomore challenge witnessed Blair beasting on the much bigger Sophomore team that featured Brook Lopez, Kevin Love, and Marc Gasol. Tyreke Evans decided to share his MVP award with Blair, and it wasn't tough to see why. Frankly, Blair looked like a future all-star out there as he had his way with the future bigmen of the league. He is already one of the best rebounders in the entire league (right up there with Dwight Howard and Greg Oden), and at 20 years of age, he is only going to get better. Blair is as good a rebounder as Rodman was when Rodman first entered the league at 25 years old. Rodman was a good rebounder, but he didn't become the greatest rebounder of all-time until he hit 30. To say Blair has time on his side would be a gross understatement.

Josh Howard - I've been somewhat critical of Howard throughout this post, and his production has been the reason why. He's only averaging 12.5 ppg (down from last year's 18.0) and shooting only 40% from the field (down from 45% last season). He likely needed a change of scenery, and it's a good bet that he'll use this as an opportunity to pad his stats before entering free agency this summer.

Carlos Delfino - Milwaukee hasn't missed Michael Redd one bit, and Delfino has been the main reason why. He's averaging 13.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, and 4.3 apg over his last 10 games, while also hitting the three at a 41% clip.

17 comments:

Shelb
said...

Great work. Good to see my boys Bonner and Hump get some love. Goofy white former Raptors are awesome.

Might wanna keep an eye on Hedo in the next week or so. Now that he's back from his broken face, he might just continue playing like his Magic days as he has the last two games. Looks like he's finally getting a grip on the... Ball. Hopefully he keeps it up.

Good looking on the Blair upgrade too. If his body keeps up over the years, this guy could become a defensive and rebounding center piece for a championship team one day. His draft day drop to the second round is going to bite teams in the ass. I understand concerns over his fragile knees, but a rookie scale contract is alot cheaper than signing another player of his caliber.

The Spurs are geniuses because Blair won't even make 3 million over the next 3 years (2.97 million). And the last two years are at their option (like a 1st rounder). Remember how Boozer left Cleveland for 60 million in only his 3rd season? Not only do the Spurs have Blair at a bargain rate but he'll be the league's best bargain for the next 3 seasons.

Heres a little tidbit thats been overlooked last few updates, not a big deal

Dee Brown's uniform number is #23 in your rosters, which a bit of blasphemy considering who used to wear #23 in Chicago. His proper is #32 and has no headband anymore (due to Chicagos "no headband" policy). Chris Richard is also #35

Again these are things I just have changed once ive downloaded the rosters and not huge things

Hah good catch on the Devin Brown thing. I thought 2K had a retired number policy in there where certain players couldn't have certain numbers... guess they patched that out due to complaints (like why can't I create Jordan and give him his own number?)

Also if there are any download errors I suggest trying to DL a different file, or reloading your game. Some people have trouble for whatever reason. I've never encountered the problem so I don't know an exact fix.

hey do u know that 2kinsider got CP3 at 69 coz he's injured.. thanks for the rosters.. dont turn on living rosters if you cant download. i cant find 2kshare till i turned off living rosters. i dont know if im right i just experienced it